BEIJING: The China stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the three-day winning streak in which it had advanced almost 60 points or 1.9 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 3,240-point plateau, and the market figures to remain rangebound again on Wednesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to lower ahead of today’s congressional address from U.S. President Donald Trump. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.
The SCI finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the properties and oil companies, while the financials were mixed. Among the actives, PetroChina added 0.24 percent, while China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) gained 0.35 percent, Agricultural Bank of China collected 0.31 percent, Bank of China shed 0.27 percent, Vanke gained 0.05 percent, Gemdale and ICBC were unchanged and China Shenhua picked up 0.36 percent. The lead from Wall Street is soft as stocks moved lower on Tuesday, with the Dow and the S&P 500 pulling back from record closing highs. The Dow eased 25.20 points or 0.1 percent to 20,812.24, while the NASDAQ slid 36.46 points or 0.6 percent to 5,825.44 and the S&P 500 fell 6.11 points or 0.3 percent to 2,363.64. The weakness reflected trepidation ahead of Trump’s speech as traders will be looking for details on his policies on tax reform, deregulation, and infrastructure spending. In economic news, the Commerce Department said that economic growth in the fourth quarter was unrevised at 1.9 percent. A separate report from the Conference Board showed an unexpected improvement in consumer confidence in February.
Crude oil futures were flat Tuesday, staying in the middle of a stubborn trading range. April WTI oil fell 4 cents to settle at $54.01/bbl. However, WTI oil futures on Nymex climbed by about 2.3 percent for the month. Closer to home, China will see February results for the official manufacturing and non-manufacturing PMIs later this morning, as well as the manufacturing PMI from Caixin. The official manufacturing PMI is expected to show a score of 51.2, down from 51.3 in January – when the non-manufacturing PMI had a score of 54.6. The Caixin manufacturing PMI is tipped to post a score of 50.8, down from 51.0 in the previous month.
